How to SEAR Process into Our Organization

For our organizations to scale sustainably processes are crucial. For those of us who desire to exit for a) something close to the number we want and b) with a cheque on closing day instead of an earn-out we’ll likely never realize processes are the key to a successful exit.

Creating processes inside our organization feels simple, but in practice is usually not easy. To move our organization along the “scalable/sellable” continuum need processes that are uncomplicated and not carved in stone.

When looking at current processes or building new answer the following four questions to determine if that process will be effective in moving our organization forward.

1. Is the process SIMPLE to follow? – we’ve all experienced a process that left us 17 sub-menus down with no clear way forward or back to the beginning. Human brains can retain about five pieces of information in short term memory plus or minus two, which makes processes between three and seven steps ideal.
2. Is the process EASY to train? – if not, revise it until it does 😊 Otherwise we’re likely to never implement the process because we believe it will take too long to get our team members self-sufficient at using that process.
3. Is the process ADAPTABLE? – processes that aren’t adaptable are like using cavalry to charge machine gun nests in World War I, not very effective. When our processes can be adapted to shifts in technology (like adding in AI) or people (two people used to be needed where one will do now) they are more likely to support us long term and increase the value to a potential buyer.
4. Does the process REMOVE bottlenecks? – like say, us as leader needing to approve or review the output of certain steps (like a proposal) before the process can move forward. Processes that create bottlenecks aren’t supporting us in scaling and ultimately selling.

In addition to those four questions, do we hold everyone, including us ACCOUNTABLE to following the process? If not, that process has limited value. Also, do we REVIEW our processes regularly against the SEAR questions to discover if we need to simplify or adapt a process to make it easier to follow or train and/or remove a bottleneck that grew up after implementation?

Documenting processes can feel like a massive lift. The best way to start is with one process then build from there. Encouraging team members to support us makes the lift less about us and more about supporting our entire company.

Until next time… go lead.